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Educating Mom 9/5/2014 12:00:01 AM by: Susan Lyttek

Educating Mom

This week, Karl’s Algebra II focused on logarithms. I totally forgot how to do logs. So I had to read over the lessons and re-educate myself. I had to learn how to format them from an exponent and convert them if they weren’t in base 10. Thankfully, I probably won’t have to learn it again! (I say probably because you never know what might happen with tutoring or that distant future that might include grandkids.)

I wish I could say that I don’t have to relearn very often. Both fortunately and unfortunately, though, I do.

I say unfortunately, because relearning or learning things takes time. It takes additional effort. And often it is time or energy or effort that I really don’t feel like I have. I sigh. I hem and haw a bit. Then I buckle down and ask God for help and for wisdom and it gets done. We cover the lesson or solve the problem and move on.

I say fortunately, because I like learning. I prefer to learn new things, but I’m OK with relearning something for the ten thousandth time. I figure the first is an adventure. The second is more like daily exercise to keep my brain working.

Because I like learning, I signed up for a two year Bible study with Moody when the boys were little. I wanted something to challenge my mind and redirect my thoughts in the midst of potty training, ABC videos, and trips to the emergency room.

Because I like learning, I intentionally (and sometimes unintentionally) choose projects that require research. How else will I prod myself to learn new tidbits of information or pieces of history that school glossed over?

But learning, truly, is not just about filling our heads with facts. Learning, in its best sense, is training our lives to be more like Christ. His wisdom is what will keep us as he intended us throughout eternity.

Just as I forgot how to do logs, I forget to live like his child. And having offspring who are no longer children reinforces that even more. When I say, “How often have I told you…?” The words echo back to me, but in the voice of Jesus. Or when they watch what I do versus what I say, the discernment of my teenage sons will often point out the discrepancy. And they will point it out the next time and the time after that.

So in the morning, I open my Bible and re-educate myself. And I hope and I pray that I won’t have to relearn quite as much tomorrow.